Chapter Text
“Listen carefully.”
Aventurine leaned towards the microphone, his voice low and terse with uncharacteristic urgency. The ship lurched haphazardly around them and he slammed an arm against the console, huffing as his dress shoes skidded along the slanted deck.
“It is not too late to turn around.”
A light overhead burst into smoke and sparks, sprinkling debris onto his fur-lined jacket and plunging the cockpit into darkness. Sirens began to sound, blaring through his ears and sweeping the shadows with disorienting pulses of scarlet light.
But the voice from the other ship no longer replied. There was no complaining now, no bitter rant. Only the sound of shrill breathing, panicked curses, and the jarring crash of fists slamming onto the controls.
They had chased the runaway researcher this far—to the unexplored regions of space beyond the IPC’s network—hoping to talk some sense into him before he did anything reckless with the stolen substance. But they hadn’t expected the researcher’s ship to be dragged into the gravitational field of a nearby planet… and they certainly hadn’t expected to be caught by the same fluctuating gravity.
The stars outside were warping now, collapsing inward, spiralling towards the surface of the planet. Its upper atmosphere distorted, shimmering with a strange psychedelic light that Aventurine had never seen before. It left a distinctly unsettling sensation in his gut, and as the ship lurched forward, he stumbled with it.
“Haha—!”
He laughed, purely on reflex, his voice giddy with exhilaration. Beside him, his dark-haired companion gritted their teeth in an irritable tsk.
“Not to be the bearer of bad news,” Ratio said darkly, his focused glare ablaze with crimson light as he fought the malfunctioning controls, “but given the current gravitational sheer and the catastrophic failure of the inertial dampeners, it is literally impossible to turn around.”
Ignoring him, Aventurine grabbed hold of the pilot’s seat and dragged himself back to the console. He grabbed the microphone and bent it stubbornly towards his lips.
“Sure,” he continued in a cajoling scoff, “you’ve been expelled from the Intelligentsia Guild and slapped onto the IPC’s wanted list, but trust me—things can still get much worse. If the Guild files a posthumous complaint, your awards and degrees will be formally renounced, and the IPC will redistribute the penalties onto your family. Come now, work with me here, we can still—”
A violent lurch slammed into the ship, tossing him away from the mic and into the cabin wall. The console tore free from its mount and smashed from the ceiling with a burst of blinding light, forcing Aventurine to flinch and raise his hands instinctively over his face.
The sirens were like strobe lights now, flashing vivid red in between pulses of absolute darkness. Squinting through the chaos, Aventurine saw Ratio’s silhouette stagger upright, clutching the bolted chairs for support.
“Gambler!” The man’s shout was muted by the scream of the atmosphere burning through the ship’s walls. “Get to the lifeboats!”
“Yeah,” Aventurine huffed, his breathless voice only loud enough for himself to hear. As uncanny as his luck was, he doubted that even his blessing would save him from an imploding spaceship. “Yeah, okay.”
He struggled to his feet, his legs trembling more than he had realized. Clinging to the structures along the wall for support, he grabbed blindly at whatever he could reach to pull himself upright.
With each flash of the alarms, he saw Ratio’s silhouette stumble a little closer. He extended a hand towards the man, relief rushing through his lungs as the doctor’s warm fingers clasped around his own—
—But they were viciously torn apart.
The ship rolled, the ceiling tilting into the floor, the front hurtling to the back, the walls rupturing inwards, the window igniting in flames. Flung towards the back of the ship, Aventurine hit the wall hard enough to shatter his shield. The remaining impact tore through his body and ripped the air out of his lungs, but he barely even managed to gasp before everything spun again.
Grabbing a protruding handle, he hastily summoned a new shield and held on, struggling to see through the debris tumbling across the corridor.
Ratio?
He was too winded to shout, and the thunderous groan of the crumbling ship was all he could hear. He scanned the flashing darkness, searching desperately for a humanoid figure, his hands growing clammy and weak against the handle. He could see the lifeboats—he had been thrown right into them, as his blasted luck would have it. The coffin-shaped escape capsules had already opened their doors, a single leap away.
But he couldn’t see Ratio.
Shit.
Bracing his feet against the wall—or ceiling, or whatever it was now—Aventurine tensed his legs, prepared to launch himself back towards the flaming windshield in search of the man.
“Rati—!”
He broke off, eyes widening, a frigid chill sweeping through his entire body. A loose panel tumbled out of the way, revealing Ratio’s body floating through the cockpit. Limp… eyes closed… dark, glistening liquid dripping over his face.
Aventurine lunged forward, his ragged shout lost beneath the massive explosion that ripped through the hull. As his outstretched fingers strained towards the man’s face, he saw, illuminated in the blossoming flames, Ratio’s lashes flutter open.
The gold within the man’s irises shimmered in the light as Ratio turned towards him, lips moving with a whisper that Aventurine only heard in his mind.
“It’s alright, Vasha.”
Grabbing his Cornerstone, Aventurine clutched it tightly against his chest. As the ship began to twist around them, he closed his eyes and hissed urgently through the thinning atmosphere, his voice dark and gritted with bitterness.
“I come to wager, I’ll lose what can be lost. Staking everything I am, everything I’ll ever be… on what I refuse to let go.”
Air rushed into his mouth, his voice disintegrating within the flames.
“All for… the Amber…”
The impact swallowed the rest.
Light and sound exploded together—white, gold, scarlet—noise and darkness and silence and the ear-splitting scream of rending metal and crunching glass.
Aventurine stayed conscious through it all. He saw the moment the darkness tore Ratio away, saw the merciless light that pierced his eyes after. It seeped blood red, then rotted away into the darkness, then returned again—flashing nauseatingly through his senses. The world spun, its panicked roar severed and shattered between moments of utter silence, utter stillness… utter nothingness. It flickered beneath his lashes, light and noise—nothingness—light and noise—nothingness—light and noise—nothingness—light… light…
His lashes fluttered, smearing the blue horizon with a flickering shadow. Dimly… Aventurine realized he was breathing.
He was lying on his back in the smoking wreckage, gazing up at a blue sky. It looked harmlessly ordinary at first, but as he stared numbly upwards, a strange shimmer rippled through the clouds—prismatic and unsettling, like the aurora he had seen around the planet’s atmosphere.
A shrill, persistent warble rang in his ears, and an unpleasant heat pressed down on his leg. His vision was tinged with shifting, psychedelic colours that left him feeling dizzy and disoriented.
With a shallow inhale, Aventurine tried to move. He promptly froze up, wincing, as a sharp pain stabbed into his palm.
Breath catching, he looked down and saw his hand clenched around his cornerstone. He was clutching it so violently that it had cut into his skin, and his blood was beginning to bead around the gemstone. Its lingering power faded as he loosened his grip, and he yanked his head up with a gasp as he remembered—
—Ratio!
Aventurine sat up with a start. A loose panel of the ship’s hull fell off his lap as he moved—that must have been the uncomfortable heat he’d felt. Its burning edges had partially singed through his clothes, but aside from some cuts and his wounded hand, he was otherwise uninjured.
He looked around, his breathing quickening, frantic. He tried to call out but his throat clenched painfully—it took him several tries before he could utter a sound.
“Ratio—?” His voice was so hoarse it was unrecognizable.
He scrambled to his feet, staggering as the wreckage shifted beneath him. The ship… it was just a smoking, twisted scrap of metal now. His chest lurched as he looked at the devastation, and he recalled the limp figure he had seen floating before the crash.
That helpless silhouette hanging in the flames, bleeding in and out of sight within the scarlet alarms as the ship hurtled through the atmosphere with them still trapped inside…
He couldn’t see how Ratio could still be alive beneath all this—but then again, he couldn’t see how he had survived, either.
Staggering forward, Aventurine stumbled across the wreckage, his legs still shaking, his voice still raspy. He called out for Ratio again and again, lifting smoking debris with grunts of effort.
“Ratio—”
A glint of gold caught his eye—Ratio’s shoe. Gasping, Aventurine dropped the slab he was struggling to lift and rushed over. It was intact, attached to a foot, a leg—the rest of the body was buried beneath crumpled metal. Heart pounding, Aventurine grabbed the heavy metal piece with both hands, ignoring the heat searing his hands as he wrenched it aside. Releasing the panel with a deafening crash, he looked back down and stiffened, his heart lurching into his throat.
Ratio was lying in the wreckage, eyes closed, blood running down his face from a wound in his head. But as pale sunlight shone down on him, it illuminated the golden shimmer of a shield protecting his body. His lashes fluttered and he stirred, a grimace wrinkling his features as he groaned and tried to turn away from the light.
Thank Aeons…
Aventurine nearly sank to his knees in relief.
I made it in time…
Kneeling down, he reached through the shield and brushed a hand gently against Ratio’s arm.
“Veritas,” he called quietly, trailing his fingers down to the man’s wrist and quickly assessing his condition. Despite the deeply disgruntled look on Ratio’s scrunched-up face, his pulse was strong, and his breathing was steady. He didn’t seem like he was in too much pain. “Are you alright?”
With some aggravated squinting, Ratio managed to open his eyes. As the man’s irises glinted to the sunlight, Aventurine held up two fingers.
“How many fingers do you see?”
Ratio face scrunched up in a scowl. “Five,” he muttered. “But only two that are raised.”
Aventurine chuckled breathlessly. That was his Doctor of Truth alright…
Leaning forward, he eased himself beneath the man’s arms and helped Ratio sit up.
“How are you feeling?” Aventurine asked. His own body stung from the extra weight, but he was glad to feel Ratio’s warmth pressed against him.
“Irked,” Ratio grunted.
Pulling away, the man sat cross-legged in the wreckage and closed his eyes in a perplexed frown. “That crash should not have happened,” he muttered, grasping his chin in contemplation. “Modern ships have a sophisticated navigation system that should have safely evaded the planet’s gravitational field—but this specific planet’s gravity wasn’t caught on the sensors at all. Moreover, it fluctuated extremely oddly, almost as if intentionally reaching out to ‘grab’ us—”
As the scholar began to ramble to himself, Aventurine sighed ruefully and looked around.
They were in an abandoned urban cityscape, he observed. The skeletal ruins of skyscrapers and storefronts lay half-crumpled around them, overgrown with strange shimmering crystals. The air felt strange to breathe in, and he could see it distorting around him, sparkling prismatically in the sunlight.
The ruins looked only a few years old. This was a civilized planet, Aventurine deduced, likely dominated by a humanoid species. They seemed to have crashed in an uninhabited, possibly post-apocalyptic area.
His breathing turned shallow as he became wary of the silence. Cities were not abandoned for no reason… while it was fortunate that they hadn’t crashed into civilians, this area must be dangerous somehow—
A low growl swept across the clearing just as the thought crossed his mind. Turning sharply, Aventurine spotted a small bipedal creature stalking towards them. It was bipedal and possessed humanoid musculature—which he could see clearly, as it was nude. But in place of a head, there was only a pulsing black orb, reminding him eerily of a black hole.
The creature uttered a clicking noise. Dozens of others began to flow out of the ruins behind it.
Rising to his feet, Aventurine faced them slowly, hiding one hand behind his back. He could hear them chattering amongst themselves, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying. He felt a wary tingle—had his synesthesia beacon broken during the crash?
Well, no matter. He’d received far more hostile greetings in the past. Mustering a winning smile, Aventurine called out jovially.
“Hello, friends.” Lifting his free hand, Aventurine showed them his empty palm. “My companion and I had an unfortunate accident, but we don’t mean to cause any alarm.”
The creatures continued to advance, not seeming to understand. Some of them were holding weapons, he noticed—well, not exactly holding. Sharp objects resembling broken traffic lights and blades had been integrated directly into their limbs.
At his greeting, the creatures on the front lines started shaking their arms energetically, and their clicking noises swelled to an excited din.
Taking a small step back, Aventurine tensed his hidden hand into the posture of a snap.
“Please,” he continued imploringly, “we’re harmless travelers. If you don’t have the means to help us, then simply allow us a moment to recuperate, and we’ll be right on our way—”
With a thrilled shriek, one of the creatures leapt at him.
Aventurine snapped his fingers, instantly thickening his shield. The creature smashed into it with a resounding crack and hurtled back into the pavement, knocked out from its own force.
The others stared at their fallen comrade for a second. Then, they turned their pulsing black heads towards Aventurine—and lunged.
He snapped again. The sky tore open and golden chips rained down, hammering the creatures to the ground. A sense of exhilaration rushed through Aventurine’s limbs as he watched them fall around him, shrieking, helpless. This sense of power and control… after that harrowing crash, was extremely cathartic.
Unleashing an elated, almost crazed laugh, Aventurine flung his arm forward, hurtling dice into the crowd and bowling the creatures back—
—Only for a shadow to fall over him.
Aventurine stiffened. He looked up just in time to see a massive, gorilla-sized creature with the same headless black core leap down from—thin air—?! It slammed down at him, its roar rippling through his spine as it swung a club-like limb towards his face.
The club struck his shield with such immense force that Aventurine was flung back. Skidding along the broken concrete, he hurriedly raised his hand, eyes widening in alarm as he saw the creature already slugging its club towards Ratio—
A white blur hurtled across the wreckage and smashed into the creature, smashing it away with such immense force that Aventurine saw the air ripple. The colossal monster flew across the horizon and struck the distant wall of a skyscraper with a magnificent quake of sound.
Jaw dropping, Aventurine stared as the monster was obliterated into prismatic sparkles with a single blow. Only the enormous indentation of its mass remained in the cracked concrete.
He was so stunned that it took him a moment to tear himself away. Whirling back, Aventurine faced the powerful new enemy with a wary huff, his body tingling with adrenaline.
There was a tall, hulking silhouette looming over Ratio. It looked like a wolf, but it was clothed, and standing on two feet. It was already far too close to the doctor—Aventurine had seen how quickly it could move, how powerfully it could kick. He had to act now, or he wouldn’t have another chance.
He snapped a chip forward, shooting it like a bullet towards the newcomer. They turned, and as he caught a glimpse of their face, he saw surprise flicker over their single crimson eye.
Fleetingly, Aventurine realized he might have made a mistake, but it was too late. His chip was already—
An ear-splitting ring exploded across the ruins, loud enough to make Aventurine flinch. It wasn’t the sound his chip would have made if it had hit flesh and bone… but metal.
Aventurine opened his eyes, surprised to see that someone had managed to intercept his attack.
This newcomer looked human—a man, tall and slender, with pale skin and long blonde hair. He had blocked Aventurine’s chip by swinging a massive scythe in its path, and he was now resting one leg on its handle, posing stylishly—and rather melodramatically—against the horizon.
Conscious of Ratio sitting wounded beside the strangers, Aventurine hid one hand behind his back and braced himself. But his fingers were no longer as tense as before.
“Oh?” The unfamiliar blonde picked up his chip and twirled it skillfully between his gloved fingers. “Lycaon,” he drawled, turning towards the wolf-like man. His eyes—one silver, one scarlet—gleamed in the strange light. “He just threw money at you. Is this another one of your celebrated clients?”
The white-furred wolf-man replied with a reprimanding sort of growl. The blonde tossed the chip at him with a haughty scoff.
“You’re welcome, by the way.”
“I did not require your intervention,” the wolf-man muttered, turning back towards Aventurine.
To Aventurine’s surprise, the stranger did not look angry, but instead braced a hand by his chest and lowered himself in an elegant bow.
“Apologies if I frightened you,” the stranger said graciously. “I saw you and your companion being attacked by Ethereals and came to your aid. I understand you must be quite disoriented, given…”
He paused, his gaze flickering to the smoking ruins of the shipwreck
“… the extent of your accident, but rest assured—we mean you no harm.”
Aventurine breathed in, then exhaled. His breath trembled slightly, and he had to take another breath before he could force himself to relax.
Straightening, he dusted off his clothes and flashed the strangers a charming but sheepish smile.
“…Not at all, the apology is mine.” He mimicked the wolf-man’s bow, assuming it was their customary greeting. When he straightened, he saw the blonde-haired man gazing down at him with a deeply disdainful and bitter frown, as though he had done something offensive.
Aventurine felt somewhat puzzled, but he continued to smile. “You’re right, I panicked. My companion is injured, and he’s… very important to me.”
His breath caught despite himself. At that, the blonde’s glare eased into a grudging sort of look, and the white-furred stranger’s gaze glimmered empathy.
Aventurine strode over, trying not to look too wary of their presence. The strangers stepped away to give him space as he returned to Ratio’s side.
Bending down next to the doctor, Aventurine reached out and pressed a trembling palm against Ratio’s face. The man was grimacing, clearly still disoriented—that head wound looked nasty—but his skin was warm to the touch.
“I’m fine,” Ratio muttered, clasping his hand reassuringly for a moment, then brushing it away. “You needn’t cause trouble.”
Aventurine chuckled softly. “Isn’t it a bit pre-emptive of you to accuse me of causing trouble?”
“Given what I know?” Ratio said flatly, “No.”
Aventurine wasn’t entirely convinced that Ratio was okay, but the doctor wasn’t usually the reckless sort. If he insisted he was fine, then… he was probably somewhat fine.
Swallowing his unease, he straightened and turned to face the strangers properly.
“I’m Aventurine.” He flashed them both a brilliant beam. “And the handsome sir behind me is the distinguished Dr. Veritas Ratio, my—”
“Please,” Ratio grunted. “Just Ratio is fine.”
Chuckling lightly, Aventurine continued. “We’re not from around here, so apologies if we seem a bit clueless. Is there any shelter nearby?”
The white-furred stranger and his blonde companion exchanged glances. Aventurine scrutinized them innocently, wondering if natives were capable of telepathy as they stared meaningfully at each other.
In any case, based on the wary and confused hints in their expressions, Aventurine guessed that they had found his story odd. When they finally turned back to him, Aventurine braced himself for an interrogation.
The wolf-man opened his mouth to speak, but his blonde companion cut in.
“Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Mr. Aventurine and Mr. Ratio,” he declared smoothly. “The stubbornly chivalrous Thiren who insisted on saving you is—”
“Von Lycaon of Victoria Housekeeping,” the white-furred stranger—or Thiren, as the blonde man had said—interrupted, his voice polite but tinged with exasperation as he cast his companion a sideways glare. “But you may call me Lycaon.”
Lycaon faced them with a more benign look.
“Due to temporal distortions, Hollows are difficult to navigate without a Carrot or a Proxy. We can escort you to safety and recommend some places where you can stay, but your… er, vehicle…”
Lycaon trailed off and glanced at the shipwreck. This time, the incredulity in his face was obvious.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s worthless now.” Aventurine waved dismissively. Hauling Ratio’s arm over his shoulder, he helped the doctor up with some difficulty. “Please, lead the way,” he huffed. “We’ll be in your care.”
Nodding briskly, Lycaon turned and gestured for them to follow. The blonde-haired man remained beside him, frequently checking over his shoulder to glance at them. He didn’t look hostile, but Aventurine could see the wariness in his gaze.
Catching his eye, Aventurine offered a friendly smile.
“I don’t believe I caught your name.”
The man angled his head and smiled back mysteriously. A shrewd glint passed through his heterochromatic eyes, and Aventurine felt a strange tingle run down his spine.
“I don’t believe you have,” the man agreed gingerly.
Beside him, Lycaon muttered reproachfully.
“Hugo.”
“Tch.”
The man’s brows furrowed, his smile instantly becoming annoyed. He snuck a glare at the Thiren before flashing Aventurine a beguiling smile of his own.
“Hugo Vlad, a collector. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Mimicking Hugo’s head tilt, Aventurine smiled back.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Hugo. I apologize for attacking your friend earlier—once we regain our bearings, I’ll make sure to leave a token of gratitude.”
Hugo turned away with a scoff. “Friend? I’m afraid you’re mistaken. We’re nothing of the sort.”
Lycaon heaved a deep sigh and glanced at the blonde. There seemed to be a hint of anguish in his gaze, and Aventurine raised an eyebrow.
“Then, lov—?”
Lycaon cleared his throat loudly. “You said you weren’t from around here, Mr. Aventurine. Does that mean you’re not from New Eridu?”
“Indeed,” Aventurine agreed.
Lycaon’s expression became quite skeptical. Aventurine blinked back questioningly.
“Apologies,” Lycaon admitted. “I’m simply surprised. Since the appearance of Hollows, civilization has been very few and far in between. It’s… exceedingly rare, for us to receive guests from outside of New Eridu.”
At that, Ratio spoke up. “Those who have been contained within glass walls naturally would not know the extent of the world beyond them,” he grunted, eyes still closed and brows furrowed in discomfort as he leaned against Aventurine. “It is arrogant to equate ‘lack of awareness’ to ‘impossibility’.”
Ack.
As endearing as he found his doctor, that had come off as quite rude. Aventurine immediately opened his mouth to apologize, but Hugo snickered first, loudly.
Aventurine looked at the blonde, taken aback. Beside him, Lycaon nodded his head in immediate fluster, his ears flapping with the motion.
“Of course. You’re completely right. It was presumptuous of me to assume.”
“Maybe so,” Ratio said gruffly, “but I didn’t mean to be discouraging. The grace with which you acknowledge your shortcomings is admirable. And… thank you,” he added in a slightly warmer voice, “for your aid.”
“I merely did what anyone would do,” Lycaon replied warmly.
At that, Hugo scoffed. “Incredible how you still believe that considering how frequently you’re used like a disposable rag,” he muttered under his breath.
Sighing irritably, the blonde man pulled ahead, twirling his hand in a gesture for them to follow. His long, braided hair swished over his hips as he took the lead.
“No matter, it’s none of my business what you decide to brainwash yourself with.”
Lycaon stifled a heavy sigh and instead cast them an apologetic look. “Please pay him no mind,” the Thiren said gingerly. “His grievances lie solely with me.”
Wryly, Ratio began, “He has a point, intelligent organisms are rarely altruistic by nature—”
“We’re nothing but grateful, Mr. Lycaon,” Aventurine interrupted hastily.
Some ways ahead, Hugo had stopped. As they caught up, Aventurine slowed and had to hide his apprehension.
The man had led them to the edge of a rooftop garden. The glass fence had shattered here, and the lower level of the city lay scattered beyond, at least thirty floors below.
Against him, Ratio’s weight shook in a hoarse, unsurprised, and rather despairing scoff.
Aventurine felt the need to inform him that for once, this hadn’t been his idea.
Seeing their dubious reactions, Lycaon glanced back with a reassuring look.
“If you prefer,” the Thiren offered politely, “we can find a less intimidating exit. However, depending on your ether aptitude, prolonged exposure to the Hollow is extremely dangerous. It’s in your best interest to leave quickly.”
“It’s not a problem.” Aventurine mustered a playful grin. “Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve leapt off a cliff blind.”
Lycaon arched an eyebrow. Ratio heaved a stressed-sounding sigh. Teetering along the edge, Hugo laughed.
Turning to face them, Hugo winked and lifted his arms. “See you on the other side,” he said cheerfully, stepping back and tipping casually over the edge.
Appearing entirely composed, Lycaon bowed and gestured for them to pass. “After you.”
Swallowing his doubts, Aventurine nodded and dragged a subtly resisting Ratio forward.
“Are you sure about this?” Ratio muttered in his ear.
Closing his eyes, Aventurine took a deep breath, memorizing the warmth and the gentleness of the doctor’s voice against his cheek.
But a moment was all he allowed. Any longer, and even his façade would crumble.
He no longer had nothing to lose, after all.
“Nope.”
Blithely, he walked over the edge.
It did feel remarkably like falling. His gut lurched as they plummeted, and a familiar rush of terror flooded his senses. Yet when Aventurine opened his eyes against the searing wind, it wasn’t the concrete ruins that he saw rushing towards them, but a dizzying blur of psychedelic colours.
He opened his mouth, confused, amazed—and yelped out loud as the world flipped sharply sideways. One moment, he was plummeting through a rainbow—and in the next, he was stumbling onto a sidewalk.
The sky veered sharply over his head. His knees buckled, and concrete rushed towards his face—but when he fell, it was into a pair of arms.
A subtle, pleasant cologne filled his nose as he face-planted into someone’s chest. Disoriented, it took Aventurine a moment to realize it was Hugo. It took him several more moments to regain control of his legs.
Staggering back, Aventurine gasped. The air felt instantly different—like he was finally breathing after being suffocated in blankets for a long time.
They had emerged onto a quiet riverside street. The nearby buildings looked vacant, but he could hear civilization—the active rumble of vehicles and trains, and the obnoxious squawking of seagulls. Behind them, an enormous black sphere blotted out the horizon, distorted with prismatic hues along the rim.
Ratio—
He turned his head sharply, but quickly sighed in relief. The doctor was standing right next to him, eyes closed and brows furrowed in a complicated frown, blood still oozing slowly down his face.
Lycaon emerged behind them, stepping onto the sidewalk as elegantly as though he had simply crossed the street. The Thiren straightened his cravat, dusted off his uniform, then faced Aventurine with an expression of genuine concern.
“How are you feeling?”
Aventurine parted his lips and, to his own surprise—laughed out loud. His giddy, breathless giggles raised several eyebrows, and Ratio covered his face with a muffled sigh.
“Can we do that again?!”
Hugo let out an incredulous chuckle. “Be my guest.”
Seeming quite concerned about Ratio’s suffering, Lycaon suggested cautiously, “It may be best to get your companion medical attention first.”
“I’m fine,” Ratio grunted, shaking his head and teetering. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
“Regardless,” Lycaon insisted, gesturing towards the city. “He’s displaying signs of a concussion. If you’ll allow me, I can recommend a hotel in Lumina Square. It is a city hub, you will find everything you need at a convenient distance.”
Aventurine brightened instantly. ‘Hotel’ was always an extremely relieving word to hear after crash-landing on a foreign planet. Wrapping an arm around Ratio, he flashed their newfound companion a beam.
“Lead the way, my friends.”